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Three categories, twelve teams from all over Europe and a total of 29 baseball matches have filled the catalan baseball fields with the best European baseball. The Catalunya Baseball Week, a new initiative promoted by the Catalan Federation of Baseball and Softball, has hosted teams from Italy, France, Sweden, Germany and the Czech Republic in one of the most international tournaments we have seen in Catalonia.

Sub-12, youngest ones

Beginning with the youngest, the Sub-12 category brought together two European academies, the German Academy and the Prague Center Academy, who faced the two Little League teams of Catalonia, the Red and the Black. Despite the excellent role of the two Catalan teams, which were first and second in the classification, both fell in the semifinals, which condemned them to the last positions. The good Catalan role became apparent in the results of the initial phase, where both Red and Black only accumulated one defeat.

However, the visitors showed their strength in the semifinals, when the German Academy, which ended the first part of the tournament as the fourth classified, beat Catalunya Red for 5 runs to 0, while the Prague Center Academy also won the other Catalan team, the Black, for 11 runs to 6. With these results, the final game was set as a duel between the foreign teams, which ended with a victory for Czech team, who dominated the German Academy for 6 races to 13. Finally, in the fight for the third position, the Red team won over the Black team, as it had already happened in the first part of the tournament. The final classification was the following: German Academy, Prague Center Academy, Catalonia Red and Catalonia Black.

Sub-15, the middle category

The Sub-15 category emerged as the category with fewer participants, since it only had three: the Fortitudo from Bologna, the KMC Ambassors and the Catalunya Baseball Academy. Despite this, the level of the competition between them was very high. Already from the beginning there were two teams who showed their strength: the Catalan Academy and the Fortitudo, who won the Ambassors in the first round. Although Catalonia won the Italian side in their first game, they did not give up and made it to win the local team in the second round of the competition.

Finally, with a total of 6 games played, the teams’ records were matched, especially between Catalonia and Fortitudo. As the last classified, the Ambassors, who did not win any game of the four that played. Before them, the Catalunya Baseball Academy and the Fortitudo were left with a tie record: three wins and one defeat for each one.

Sub-18, the most international category

And, finally, we reached the big category, which, in addition, turned out to be the most international one. During five days of matches, a total of 13 games should have been played, but the weather conditions allowed the teams to play only 11. Apart from being the category with the most foreign representation, it was also the one that more participants accumulated, with a total of 5: the Regensburg Academy, the Stuttgart Academy, the Pôle Toulouse, the Swedish Academy and the Catalunya Baseball Academy. Again, the level of the tournament was very high. The competition was structured in a tournament where every team faced each other, and where each team would play a total of 5 games, except Sweden, which was scheduled to dispute 6.

At the end of the six-day competition, the team that scored the best records, remaining one game against Pôle Toulouse, was the Regensburg Academy, with four victories and no defeat on the back. Behind him, and with a pending game against Sweden, the Catalan representative, who achieved three wins and one defeat, against Regensburg. In third place, with a remaining game, we find the Pôle Toulouse, who defended himself with two victories and two defeats. Closing the classification, we find the Swedish Academy, with two wins and three defeats and the Stuttgart Academy, with five defeats.
With all these results, Catalunya Baseball Week reached the end of its first edition, which has proved to be a success. Eight teams from all over Europe have traveled to Catalonia to face four local teams in what has undoubtedly been one of the most international and high levelled tournaments that we have lived in Catalonia.